Transparent or translucent building block



Aug- 4, 1925.

P. LIESE TRANSPARENT 0R TRANSLUGE'NT BUILDING BLOCK Filed 001;. 27. 1922 Lave 72,2507 .ZZZZZZ ii 5 v Jittovvtyfl Patented Aug. 4, 1925.

warren stares PAUL LIESE, OF TEMPE-LI-IOF, GERMANY.

TRANSPARENT OR TRANSLUCENT BUILDING BLOCK.

Application filed October 27, 1922.

To all whom iii/may concern:

Be it known that I, PAUL L'IESE, a citizen of Germany, residing at Tempelhof, Germany, have invented a certain new and use ful Improvement in Transparent or Translucent Building Blocks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in transparent or translucent building blocks for concrete walls and ceilings and in the structures made therefrom. In building ceilings or walls from blocks made from glass or other transparent material and concre'te or reinforced concrete, care is taken 1 that the walls or ceiling presents a uniform surface of glass, the joints being as far as possible made to disappear, and in order to hide the reinforced concrete portions bctween the blocks the said blocks are formed at their sides enclosing the said concrete portions with longitudinal ribs making the concrete invisible.

The object of the improvements is to provide blocks which when built into a wall 2 or ceiling are securely held within the concrete. With this object in view my invention consists in undercutting a part or all of the said ribs, so that in the structure the concrete passes into the grooves pro vided by said ribs and at the rear of the ribs, and it is bound to the block and assists in supporting the same. Furthermore if a part of the foot portion of the block breaks or cracks, as may be the case for ex ample by sudden changes of temperature or shocks of the block, or by reason of internal tensions caused by faults in the manufacture, particularly in cooling the blocks, the cracked foot portions do not fall from the ceiling or wall where they might injure pe sons, because such cracked or broken portions are securely held by the concrete passed below the undercut ribs. Finally, the wall or ceiling made from my improved blocks is waterproof, because by reason of the un dercut longitudinal ribs humidity can not pass through the joints of the blocks.

The effect of thus undercutting the longitudinal ribs is increased by disposing the said ribs angularly of the upper face of the block, and the joint between the block and the concrete can be made more perfect by providing recesses or depressions inthe side faces of the blocks, which are filled by the concrete.

Serial No. 597,395.

In order that the invention be more clearly understood an example embodying the same has been shown in the accompanying drawing, in which the same reference characters have been used in all the views to indicate corresponding parts. In said draw- 1a- I Fig. 1, is a plan view of the block,

Fig. 2, is a vertical cross-section taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3, is a detail sectional View showing the foot portions of two adjacent blocks on an enlarged scale.

In the example shown in the drawings the block consists of a body 2 made from glass and formed at its top with cleats or ribs 1 and side walls 3 extending downwardly from the sides of the body 2 and providing a cavity 4. The bottom side of the body 2 is formed with recesses 5 having light reflecting surfaces. At their outer faces the side walls 3 are hollowed out circumferentially as is shown at 10, and they are formed with flange or foot portions 8. The hollow portions 10 are formed with longitudinal ribs 6 and the ribs 6 of the lower parts of the said faces are undercut, as is best shown in Fig. 3'. Therefore the concrete 7 brought between the side walls 3 of the blocks gets into the spaces or grooves provided between adjacent ribs 6 and when set assists in supporting the block. Therefore, if by mechanical or other action the portions 8 of the side walls are cracked or broken, the fragments of the block are held by the concrete 7 passed below the ribs 6, so that they can not fall to the ground.

The effect described can be further improved by disposing the ribs 6 angularly of the upper face of the block, and in some cases the said angular position of the ribs is sufiicient to secure a reliable connection between the blocks and the concrete, so that undercutting of some or all of the ribs may be dispensed with.

The connection between the blocks is made more reliable by recesses 9 made in the side walls, which recesses are filled with concrete supporting the blocks when set. If desired the recesses extend through the whole body of the side walls and to the cavity 4. By uniformly distributing the said recesses the concrete portions which are visible from below will appear as uniformly distributed points and thereby not interfere with the ornamental appearance of the ceiling or wall.

While in describing the invention reference has been made to a particular example embodying the same I Wish it to be understood that my invention is not limited .to the details of the construction shown in the drawings.

I claim:

1. In a hollow building block comprising a body of translucent or transparent material, an outwardly flaring skirt portion, said block being adapted to be formed into a concrete grid, means for preventing the dislodgment of broken portions from the flar ing part of said block comprising undercut ribs lying in the outer surface of said flar ing portion and extending to a point adjacent its outermost edge, said undercut ribs being adapted to engage the grid within which said block is positioned.

2. As a new article of manufacture a building blockformed of material adapted to permit passage of light, said block provided with an outwardly flaring skirt portion there being formed in said surface a plurality of undercut ribs, said ribs extending to a point adjacent the outer edge of said skirt portion and adapted to engage the joining material ,ofastructure of which said block forms a part.

As a new article of manufacture a building block formed of material adapted to permit passage of light, said block being generally rectangular and provided with an outwardly flaring skirt portion having a curved outer surface, there being formed in said surface a plurality of circumferential undercut ribs, said ribs extending to a point adjacent the outer edge of said skirt portion and adapted to engage the joining material of a structure of which said block forms a part. i

In testimony whereof I hereuntoafl'ix my signature.

PAUL Lissa 

